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Micah’s Idolatry

¹ Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim² said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels^(a) of silver that were taken from you and about which I heard you utter a curse—I have the silver here with me; I took it.” Then his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the LORD!”³ And when he had returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, “I wholly dedicate the silver to the LORD for my son’s benefit to make a graven image and a molten idol. Therefore I will now return it to you.”⁴ So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took two hundred shekels^(a) of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into a graven image and a molten idol. And they were placed in the house of Micah.^{5 (a)}Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household idols, and installed one of his sons to be his priest.⁶ In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

⁷ And there was a young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, who had been residing within the clan of Judah.⁸ This man left the city of Bethlehem in Judah to settle where he could find a place. And as he traveled, he came to Micah’s house in the hill country of Ephraim.⁹ “Where are you from?” Micah asked him. “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah,” he replied, “and I am on my way to settle wherever I can find a place.”¹⁰ “Stay with me,” Micah said to him, “and be my father and priest, and I will give you ten shekels^(a) of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your provisions.” So the Levite went in¹¹ and agreed to stay with him, and the young man became like a son to Micah.¹² Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in his house.¹³ Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest.”